The earliest magazines developed from newspapers and booksellers catalogs. Such catalogs first appeared during the 1600'sin France. In the 1700'spamphlets published at regular intervals appeared in England and America. They were literary publications. One of the first British magazines "The Gentleman's Magazine" was published from 1731 to 1914. The first American magazine was called the "American Magazine", or "A Monthly View".

Magazines provide information on a wide range of topics such as business, culture, hobbies, medicine, religion, science, and sports. Some magazines entertain their readers with fiction, poetry, photography or articles about TV, or movie stars. Magazines are designed to be kept for a longer time in comparison to newspapers and that is why they are printed on a better paper and have covers. Magazines, unlike newspapers, do not focus on daily, rapidly changing events.

There are specialized magazines intended for special business, industrial and professional groups, and consumer magazines intended for general public. There are several kinds of consumer magazines.

Children's magazines contain stories, jokes, articles on subjects especially interesting for children and instructions for making games or useful items. Hobby magazines are intended for collectors of coins, stamps, and other items; people interested in certain sports or games; photography enthusiasts. Intellectual magazines provide analysis of current cultural and political events. Many of them publish fiction and poetry as well. Men’s magazines focus on such topics as adventure, entertainment, men's fashion and sports.

Women's magazines deal with child-raising, fashion trends, romance. They offer ideas on cooking and home decorating. Many of the monthlies with big circulations are women's magazines.